Pagans celebrate religious tolerance

A pagan drum circle formed in McKenzie Park in Panama City on Saturday.

Andrew P Johnson | The News Herald

By JACQUELINE BOSTICK / The News Herald

Published: Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 08:49 PM.

PANAMA CITY — One local organization used drumming to celebrate spiritual diversity and religious tolerance Saturday afternoon.

Emerald Coast Pagan CommUnity held its ninth annual public drum circle at McKenzie Park in downtown Panama City. The event honored spiritual diversity and religious tolerance.

“The drum is something (almost) everyone can relate to,” said Serena Dee Latiolais, ECPC member. “The drum is like the heartbeat of Mother Earth. Drumming and chanting and getting in touch with your earthly roots is something anyone can relate to.”

Pagans generally worship more than one god or worship nature and the Earth, but the pagan group’s members includes Buddhists, Taoists, Christo-Pagans (a blend of Christian and pagan beliefs), Native American traditional religion practitioners and an array of other spiritual believers.

“The biggest difference between pagan spirituality and Christian spirituality is that we believe in a father god and a mother god, so therefore we have chants that have to do with god and goddess,” said Latiolais, who is interfaith minister for alternative religions and facilitator at Mother Earth Drummers, a local drummer’s group.

“Goddess I adore you and I raise my arms before you. How I love you,” she sang of goddess — essentially, female god.

The moderator of the event, Val Draeger, said chanting is no more than “our form of hymn.”

PANAMA CITY — One local organization used drumming to celebrate spiritual diversity and religious tolerance Saturday afternoon.

Emerald Coast Pagan CommUnity held its ninth annual public drum circle at McKenzie Park in downtown Panama City. The event honored spiritual diversity and religious tolerance.

“The drum is something (almost) everyone can relate to,” said Serena Dee Latiolais, ECPC member. “The drum is like the heartbeat of Mother Earth. Drumming and chanting and getting in touch with your earthly roots is something anyone can relate to.”

Pagans generally worship more than one god or worship nature and the Earth, but the pagan group’s members includes Buddhists, Taoists, Christo-Pagans (a blend of Christian and pagan beliefs), Native American traditional religion practitioners and an array of other spiritual believers.

“The biggest difference between pagan spirituality and Christian spirituality is that we believe in a father god and a mother god, so therefore we have chants that have to do with god and goddess,” said Latiolais, who is interfaith minister for alternative religions and facilitator at Mother Earth Drummers, a local drummer’s group.

“Goddess I adore you and I raise my arms before you. How I love you,” she sang of goddess — essentially, female god.

The moderator of the event, Val Draeger, said chanting is no more than “our form of hymn.”

It’s “our way of expressing reverence and gratitude to the earth, to the god, to the goddess, to the trees, to the birds,” Draeger added, noting members chant Buddhist, Native American, Hindu, specifically pagan and other mantras. “It’s just very free form music. It expresses the musicality inside of us.”

Draeger was one of the original members of ECPG, which was founded in 2006. However, she has been a practicing pagan since the early 2000s, she said.

“I didn’t realize how I felt until my late teens,” Draeger said. “I’ve always believed we can worship anywhere and that’s the first freefall that took me on the path.”

As the circle of drummers began to beat their drums in synchronized rhythms, any spectator could join in by simply walking to the center of the drum circle and grabbing an instrument.

“This is a fun way for us to meet the public and let them know we’re here; we’re nonthreatening,” Draeger said, chuckling.

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